2026 AAEA Summer Conference

School improvement is most powerful when leadership and student support systems work together. In this session, a middle school principal and school counselor share how their partnership helped transform East End Middle School through a collaborative, data-driven approach to improvement. Participants will learn how aligning the school counseling program with the school improvement plan strengthened outcomes in academics, behavior, and school culture. Presenters will share how targeted SMART goals, a systematic RTI process, and a collaborative Student Intervention Team helped move the school from the only D-rated school in the district to the only A-rated school within two years. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for building strong principal-counselor partnerships, using data to guide decisions, and creating systems that support meaningful and sustainable school improvement.